O'NEILL: For Heidi Hall, not just against LaMalfa

Heidi Hall is running to unseat Congressman Doug LaMalfa, the guy who currently doesn't seem much interested in representing the majority of people who live in this sprawling district where so many people aren't like him at all, though he runs on the notion he's "one of us." That description doesn't ring true when he votes nice little bumps for himself in subsidies from the government while voting against government help to people who might be more in need than this recipient of beaucoup bucks from taxpayers.

It's easy to score points on LaMalfa's hypocrisy about government spending. Far beyond that, however, is the fact that LaMalfa is one of those people who doesn't believe in government. Electing guys like him is kind of similar to what might happen if McDonald's decided they'd only hire managers who were strict vegetarians. You can't make government work by electing people to run it who don't believe in it. So Doug LaMalfa went off to D.C., sent there by Tea Party yahoos from this district, and he feels it's his mission to keep government from working. He's been good at that, voting to obstruct things that would have helped his constituents here in the 11 counties he misrepresents.

I've met Heidi Hall, spoken with her, and heard her speak to a large group of interested potential voters. She is knowledgeable about matters of vital concern to North Staters. She is a far more intelligent and nuanced thinker than her GOP opponent, and she's willing to take the time to truly inform herself on complicated issues, not just mouth a few slogans, cast a party-line vote, or regurgitate pre-digested talking points. She's not an ideologue, though she has a well-articulated foundation in principles that includes a determination to find practical solutions to the challenges we face. She seems committed to making things work, not to gumming up the works, and her position on things like immigration, fiscal responsibility, jobs, veterans, and campaign finance reform show her to be just as she describes herself—a social progressive and a fiscal moderate who will "protect Northern California's working families, support small businesses, and help grow the middle class."

But, of course, if you like deadlock, and partisanship that gets us nowhere, by all means vote for Doug LaMalfa this November. But, even if Heidi Hall were far less impressive than she is, she would be infinitely preferable to Doug LaMalfa, so it is a great piece of luck that she has so much to offer voters who have been so poorly represented for so long.

Less involved voters sit out mid-term elections like the one coming up in November, thus skewing the way we're represented. The odds are stacked against Heidi Hall because this district is badly gerrymandered to favor Republicans. But there's a real chance she could overcome the odds simply because, in every possible way, she is the best candidate.

She's making another appearance here in Paradise next Saturday, coming for a luncheon between 12 and 2, hosted by Charlie Hoff and Bob Hood. (For more information, call 200-3227, or email heidihall2014@gmail.com). If you're fed up with things as they are, you could do yourself and this district a favor by turning out to meet her and hear her vision for needed changes both here and at the national level. If you go, it's likely you'll be as impressed by her as I have been.